Globalization at the Movies: "You make me want to be a better economy"

When we talk to people about globalization and its impact, we often discuss how China's rise shouldn't cause its competitors to lose hope. The key is for other economies to figure out how to take advantage of the opportunities China offers and how to better compete. It's a matter of pursuing the reforms, restructuring and retooling necessary to survive, whether that means going up the value chain or creating new innovative products and services. Globalization, in our view, is all about that pressure-reaction dynamic - the winners will be those that want to become better economies, companies, individuals once it dawns on them that they aren't that competitive anymore. Can they take the tough medicine?

All of this is neatly summed up in the following dialogue form the film As Good As It Gets, which starred Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall, the author suffering from obsessive-compusive disorder, and Helen Hunt as Carol Connelly, the long-suffering coffee shop waitress, to whom Melvin is attracted. The two go out on a date and Melvin's behavior is frustrating for Carol. She demands that he pay her a compliment:

Melvin: I've got a really great compliment for you, and it's true.
Carol: I'm so afraid you're about to say something awful.
Melvin: Don't be pessimistic, it's not your style. Okay, here I go: Clearly, a mistake. I've got this, what - ailment? My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases, a pill really helps. I *hate* pills, very dangerous thing, pills. Hate. I'm using the word "hate" here, about pills. Hate. My compliment is, that night when you came over and told me that you would never... well, you were there, you know what you said. Well, my compliment to you is, the next morning, I started taking the pills.
Carol: I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me.
Melvin: You make me want to be a better man.
Carol: ...That's maybe the best compliment of my life.
Melvin: Well, maybe I overshot a little, because I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out.

When the China juggernaut appears, the survivors - the winners in this age of intense globalization - will be those economies that want to take their medicine and look China in the face and say "You make me want to be a better economy" rather than haplessly sulk in self-pity, inefficiency and odd behavior.